- Gaming retailer is laying off staff
- Layoffs include blockchain engineers working on its crypto wallet
GameStop (NYSE:GME), video game retailer and popular meme stock, is among the latest firms to cut its investment in emerging tech. The struggling retailer is cutting investment into its plans to transform its business into an e-commerce, blockchain-friendly venture.
Current and former employees believe the company is cutting stuff, including software engineers. The most recent layoffs include the engineers working on GameStop’s crypto wallet.
One GameStop engineer shared a LinkedIn post on Monday confirming that the company was laying off staff.
"Another big round of layoffs from GameStop currently in progress... E-commerce Product and Engineers... Lots of them. Please keep a lookout to help our friends find new homes quickly," he said. Another former GameStop engineer said he worked on the Ethereum blockchain for the company. According to his LinkedIn profile, he worked on iOS and blockchain development for 11 months.
"Unfortunately, I was impacted by layoffs at GameStop today. I had a great time getting a deep dive into Ethereum and learning about many new things in the crypto space," he said. However, GameStop might not be retiring its crypto plans yet. According to recent job posts, it is looking for two software engineers for its crypto marketplace. GameStop is also searching for one marketing coordinator for its NFT platform.
GameStop’s Web3 Plans
The move comes after the retailer-turned-meme stock announced a series of ventures into the Web3 space.
The company was among the biggest beneficiaries of the 2021 meme stock craze. At the time, retail investors pumped the value of the stock, enabling GameStop to raise $1.13 billion from a stock sale.
GameStop announced it would use that capital to push into e-commerce and Web3. The company launched its self-custodial Ethereum wallet and even launched its NFT marketplace. Interestingly, GameStop opened its NFT marketplace amid a wave of company-wide layoffs.
However, the recent NFT and crypto crash has impacted the company’s bottom line. According to investment analysts, GameStop enjoyed $3,750 in daily revenue by the end of August. By September, that figure fell to $1,912.
Losses in revenue might have caused the company to reconsider the scale of its investment in blockchain tech.
On the Flipside
- GameStop is just one of many companies involved in tech and crypto laying off staff. The cost-cutting measure does not signal that the company is moving away from Web3 entirely.
Why You Should Care
GameStop is the epicenter of the meme stock phenomenon, a retail-driven surge of stocks with weak fundamentals. Many have compared GameStop to Doge, Shiba Inu, and other crypto meme tokens.